Jedi Power
Battles

Dreamcast

Review by Dan Mahlendorf

LucasArts

Action

Graphics: 7

Sound: 9

Gameplay: 3

Overall: 3

There
was a time when Lucasarts could do no wrong. The NES games were decent.
The SNES games were pretty good. X-Wing, TIE Fighter & Dark Forces
were awesome. Then something happened. I think it was greed, followed by a
lack of quality control and any inkling of what's "fun".

Don't believe me? I give you Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles. Hell the
title alone should send up red flag followed by a loud "whoop!
whoop!" sound. This is the game in a nutshell: take Golden Axe, make
it 3D (but keep the visual perspective), and replace background, bad guys,
and characters from Episode 1 and mix. Now then displace any potential of
fun out of the bowl by adding a locked camera, rotten AI, poor graphics,
sloppy controls, and hideous jumping puzzles. And there you go.

What, that's not enough? Fine, but remember you asked for it. When you
start the game you are given the option to pick your Jedi (which aren't
very different from each other except for character model and lightsaber
color) then you get the typical "A long time ago..." deal with
the opening story to Episode 1. A nice, Flash style cinema that was
reminiscent of something that could be done on a SNES told the story up to
the point of play. Then we escape the gassed meeting room and play starts.
You now have to hack your way through battle droids to get from mid-point
to mid-point. While this may sound fun, it really isn't. Some droids will
shoot while others go toe to toe with you, able to get cheap shots on you
when you are swinging. It also seems strange that any video Jedi training
your character received didn't include attacking while jumping and you
have to stop from running in order to properly swing, otherwise there is a
slight delay (enough to let a droid or two kick your tail in the process).
Anyway you fight until you get to a mid point boss, then you continue but
there are little “restart beacons” so you restart at that point when
you buy it. To top off this glorious combat system, there is also gawd
awful polygon clipping. Using the Sam L Jackson wannabe character, I was
able to stab a battle droid THROUGH a wall AND floor when I picked up the
Saber Extender power up, yet I can't hit bad guys when they are behind
pillars. Riiiiight.

The
next fun part comes up: the Jumping Challenge (cue echo effect on
"enge"). If you thought the fighting was fun, you'll love this
as much as a pencil to the ear. Since the camera is locked, you can get a
good distance perspective of how far a gap is and you will plummet to you
death. Often. Another fun thing with jumping is when you fall behind a
wall or other obstacle, your character is obscured. Until you move or jump
into view, you will not see your character. The only time there is some
sort of indicator marker showing your character's whereabouts is when you
jump too high off the top of the screen. The QA and beta testers must have
all been Sith, because they are the only ones who would probably snicker
and say “yeah, people will be able to play this.”

Okay, the game play stinks of Bantha poo doo, but what about the
visuals? The graphics are pretty okay. Other than the polygon clipping,
the graphics are crisp and animate well. Other than the effects of
blasters and such, there isn't much else in the effect of graphical flash
to really set the Dreamcast version apart other than it took advantage of
the better hardware.

Controls, as I touched on above a little bit, are “okay”. The
analog stick moves your Jedi in either a walk or a run. However, lay off
the stick while running and your Jedi will skid. Actually, when you run
about it seems as though your character is just floating. This floaty
effect can kill when near ledges, even when you walk. The D pad can be
used to move as well, but you just go at a walk's pace. Your buttons allow
you to jump (double tap for a mid-air jump for more height), a horizontal
slash, a vertical slash, and a type of stab. I don't have the
instructions, but I think button combos allow you to use force powers and
bombs. From what I can tell, there aren't a whole lot of weapon attacks
you can pull off, which is sad considering games like Soul Reaver or even
the original Golden Axe had some moves you can pull off easily. You also
have to stop moving in order to attack. It's so 1989- is it against the
Jedi code to slash while moving or are they afraid of slicing themselves
in half? With the skid issue, your Jedi will slide before coming to a
stop, which will allow you to strike which again opens you up to blaster
fire or a one-two punch with a tin-can-hand. You can perform blocks by
using the left trigger. It doesn't work well with melee attacks but if you
pull the trigger when a blaster shot gets near you it will almost always
reflect it back to its origin.

The best thing about this game, and with any Star Wars game, is the
sound. The music is classic, the sound effects authentic- they never skimp
in this department. You hear every saber swing, every blaster shot, droid
sound, and Yoda's laughter when you pick up items (why, I don't know).

In closing, I cannot recommend this game unless you are out to complete
your Dreamcast collection. The game isn't that fun, needs some SERIOUS
improvements, and is a slap to the face of the SW franchise, though that
seems to have been the theme in the past. Playing this must surely lead to
the path of the Dark Side.